The nice thing about play dough is that it's so very responsive to poking, pushing, and rolling. Its pliability is what makes it so popular with young children, and it's a wonderful introduction to working with the more resistant modeling clay. Buy the commercial stuff, or mix a batch of your own.
Play dough is not for eating. Many young children are still finding out about the world by putting things in their mouth. Your first lesson should be simple: Let's just pretend to eat it...like this!
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